As people of all ages rediscover the great outdoors, backpacking has become more popular than ever. although hiking can be a fun and enjoyable hobby, backpackers should prepare for the many precautions and dangers. The Backpacker's Handbook explains how to get physically fit for a trip and what equipment is necessary. Information on traveling in various conditions, using a map and compass, and moving over difficult terrain is presented in an easy-to-follow style. Once the right campsite is found, full details are given on such techniques as dealing with dangerous animals and extreme weather conditions, building emergency shelters, and finding food. Illustrated with full-color photographs, diagrams, and charts, The Backpacker's Handbook is an indispensable companion for the wild.
Born in Oxford, raised in Australia, trained by the British Army, educated at Oxford University, after a 17 year military career, now writing books and living in central London.
I really liked Australia, and at the age of 13, it was a nightmare coming back to grey, dismal UK, where handicapped by my Ozzie accent, I had to learn Latin from scratch in a class that was already reading Horace (or something that was a great mystery to me).
But after then attending one of the UK's first comprehensive schools - as a guinea pig in the great 'Leicestershire Plan', there was no choice but to join the Army.
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst was a severe culture shock. But after a couple of very happy years in a commando unit, three years at Oxford University reading geography and doing boxing (note the verbs) were both antidote and stimulus to further military adventures.
The apogee of my military career was the Falklands War. I then declined gently into Staff College Camberley, MoD staff appointments and a rather jolly final few years commanding an artillery gun battery in Northern Ireland, Thorney Island, and beside a lake with ducks in northern Germany.
Since then, I've produced television documentaries, spent five interesting years ad the Sunday Time's defence correspondent, whilst writing the sort of books Amazon so efficiently sells under my name on this site.
I live in central London, and have two astonishingly musical sons - one now in the Army on the brink of becoming a cavalry officer.
More information, blogs and various guides to the Army, survival and other related subjects maybe found at www.hughmcmanners.com
